The United States Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) was formerly known as the subsidiary firm of the Department of Justice, but is now part of the Department of Homeland Security. The INS grants student visa, tourist visa or any extended stay visas for foreign born citizens who wish to extend their stay in the United States.

After the 9/11 attacks on the United States, the Immigration and Naturalization Services were made strict on strengthening the national security and tightening the antiterrorism. All the guidelines of this agency were made very stringent for issuance of visa and even on the general criteria for prolonged entry in United States.

INS also holds the responsibility of detention and questioning the suspected visa holders might be connected to terrorist organisation. The detention period can be of any reasonable length of time that might be required to check or gather the information required to scrutinise the suspect. INS is also powered by Mobilization Against Terrorism Act (MATA) thus it holds the power to deport or file a case against any foreign person that may be connected to any terrorism or such organisations. INS also holds the right to cancel the visa or green card of the suspect found in connection to any terrorist group.

INS works to cut down the number of people who entered United States through its Border Patrol. INS is also responsible for searching out the illegal foreigners and to deport them back to their nation. It also imposes stiff criminal penalties for the agents who exploit illegal aliens.

Thus INS works as a stringent security organisation that keeps an eye on each and every foreign born person who enters the United States and also keeps track on their activities.

Once you have all your documents all made and you have arrived to the United States then, that at the Air port you would have to pass through the POE (port of entry) this is the last huddle for you before you enter the United States with a legal status no matter on what visa or for what ever reason you are traveling.

Here at the port of entry the immigration or the customs officer would be asking you questions about your travel and the reasons of your travel, the duration of the stay which is intended for and they would be expecting reasonable answers as per the other paper works would say there could be conversations that he or she might choose to indulge in to based upon what the officer deems fit. Once all that is done, and the officer is convinced with the reason of your travel and he is sure about the legal aspect of your passport, visa and other related paper works then they would stamp your passport. Once the stamping is done then they would be giving you the counter part of the I 94 form.

Now you need to understand that what ever date is mentioned in the I 94 is what your legal deadline is for staying in the United States. This has got nothing to do with the dates mentioned on the Visa. As per the new program called US Visit, the travelers to the United States would be required essentially to provide the authorities with their finger prints and their digital photo graphs. This law is applicable at all the 115 airports across the United States, along with the 15 sea ports that are present in the United States. All the travelers would have to pose for the digital photographs and their finger prints would be collected by the designated officers, at the port of entry.

This US Visit program has added another level of security to the United States department of homeland security. Now once all that is done. Then you are all good to move ahead to proceed towards the luggage collection counter. The conveyer belt would be carrying your baggage to you. What you also need to understand that like you your luggage would also have to pass through different levels of security before they are actually permitted in to the United States. Thus once the officials are convinced about the contents of your luggage are absolutely not hazardous then only they are passed for collection by the traveler. So the luggage collection counter would be the last stop for you in the airport post that you could proceed towards the cab.

There is a rule from the Department of Homeland Security that requires the sponsoring employers to file a petition for all the Aliens for whom R-1 non-immigrant status is sought. To comply with the same now the consular officers are required to ensure that, the said applicants have obtained an I-129 petition form from the Department of Home land security, prior to the issuance of the visa. The said rule has been in force from the 6^th of October 2009.

In case there is a further requirement of a clarification about this rule you might feel free to get in touch with the Legislation & Regulations division of the Visa Service’s. The contact person would be Lauren Prosnik. Phone # (202) 663-2951.

Now the question is what is this rule been promulgated for? The answer to that is, on the 26^th of Nov 08, the department of homeland security announced the requirement for the sponsoring employers to file a petition for all the Aliens for whom R-1 non-immigrant status is sought. Also as per the same law the period of the validity of the visa is not supposed to exceed the period as mentioned in the petition. As a result of that, an R-1 non-immigrant visa would now require the applicant to be established as a beneficiary of an approved petition. The implementation of this petition requirement by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services has been, for the purpose of authenticating and determining the petitions from the religious organizations for the religious workers. This would also help to ensure that such religious workers are admitted into the United States on the request of a religious organization and that is exactly where the workers work.

Miscellaneous regulatory findings:

As per the Administrative procedure act there is a regulation that involves the foreign affairs function of the US therefore according to the 5 USC 553(a)(1) is not subjected to the procedures of rule making as set by 5 USC 553.

As per the Executive orders 12866, the new rule has been reviewed by the department of State to ensure its consistency with the regulatory philosophy and the principals set by the Executive orders 12866. They have also determined that the cost of maintaining this rule is justified according to the benefits that are to be derived out of it.

As per the paper work reduction act does not impose the requirements of information collection, as per the provisions of the paper work reduction act 44 USC chapter 35.

This E Verify system is a totally web based system. The way it works is that it compares the data from the I-9 verification form, with the federal government data bases. And eventually produces a nod from the Department of Homeland Security, about the eligibility of the person concerned to work in the United States. This is a service run by the DHS in collaboration with the social security administration. This is an extremely careful step that has been taken by the United States government. To ensure there are no flaws in the employment system. This E Verify system would be responsible to figure out if any unauthorized alien is working in the United States or even helping them in any manner. The E Verify system would also help the federal employees uphold the prevailing laws of the country related to the federal immigration laws and total compliance to them.

The Case 2007 013, which is the Federal Acquisition rule, would create provision of the full usage of the E Verify system as a mandate for not only the federal contractors and the sub contractors of the federal departments but also for the beneficiaries of funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Post the 8^th of Sep the usage of the E Verify system would be introduced as a clause and a mandate for the fore said employers. The companies that would be awarded a federal contract would be required to enroll themselves in the E Verify system within the next 30 days and verify the status of all the existing and the newly hired employees.

It has been recorded that since Oct 2008, as many as 146,000 participating employers have verified their employees at more than 551,000 sites Since then the number of verification queries that have been run shoots to more than 7.5 million and now the status is more than 97% of all the queries are automatically confirmed as permitted to work within a span of twenty four hours or less.